outer_divide | [Audio] Friday, Week 52

[A mountain collapsing? The AI was awake? She'd missed more than she'd thought.]

I see. I spoke with our friend about him, before this happened. His suspicions are the same as ours, and he can get us into a better library.

[She eyes herself critically. She looks like a man and has no idea whether these pants actually fit her or not, but it will do.]

Presentable? You can tell me about him on the way back.

I have been looking online, but not finding much. If there is somewhere better to look, I would like to see it.

[She looks Inara up and down, this time openly since there's clothing involved, and grins.]

You will always be presentable. But you look fine. The fit is not perfect, but it does what it needs to. Here.

[She tosses her a pair of soft-soled shoes meant for various sizes of feet, then jerks her head back towards the exit.]

I'll walk you back.

[Inara is intensely grateful for the shoes, since she walked back in silk slippers the first time. She slips them on and follows.]

I have to make an appointment, but I can see if he'll let you come with me. If things like this keep happening, it would be better to have more than one set of eyes in there, I think.

[The ship makes her nervous enough that it probably shows. She hasn't even been up here since her arrival, and part of her is expecting wraiths and Roland-controlled murderers around every corner.]

[Haruka is used to danger, in general, though she's also used to it while being able to transform. Right now, though, she walks close enough to Inara to brush shoulders now and then-- her version of a protective reassurance. Inara might not be a warrior, but no matter what outfit she might be wearing, Haruka is.]

I would like that. To come with you when you go, I mean. As for the guy-- he does have mind control. He permanently overwrites neurons. And his name is Anthony David Morgan. He may have been part of the crew-- or else a good computer thief.

[She doesn't know the term for "hacker" in English, sorry, Inara.]

[A name will definitely make searching for information a bit less difficult.]

A computer thief - was his name in the crew register? Local legend is that one of the first people from the ship could drive people mad with a touch, which sounds like our man.

[It would also make him over one hundred years old.]

Oh, it does. And it could be from the crew. His records were deleted, some of them anyway, so Salvation couldn't tell for sure. But I think he was, since it was either that or he broke into the ship from the outside, and who would know how to do that? And why?

[She sounds excited, really. It's her first really good lead. Even if it doesn't necessarily lead anywhere good, it's better than what they've found so far, and it can lead to more.]

What if he is the one who made the ship crash? What if he is connected to this end of the reality that I saw when I touched him because he is causing it somehow? Or he wants it?

[Okay, now she's just extrapolating, but she's excited, okay.]

Why would anyone want that?

[Wanting to amass as much power as possible on Verdana, even at the cost of others from the ship is at least something that makes sense. What possible benefit can anyone gain from ending reality?]

[Haruka shrugs.]

Why do villains do anything? They want power, they want revenge, they have a safe reality they can escape to, they want to die themselves and take everyone else with them....

[From the way she says it, Inara can probably pick up that Haruka has fought... pretty much all those types.]

At least with this, we can start making better guesses as to what he wants.

[People here are all so used to this sort of thing, it's disturbing.]

You said you saw something?

When I shook his hand, I got a vision of that ruined future-- remember, the one you woke up in? I saw that. I think he has something to do with it. It may be just that he was there with us, or will be if he was not taken like we were but actually lived that long... or it may be that he is trying to bring it about.

[She shrugs.]

But we have a way to see if he has meddled with someone, as long as it has not been too long, so if I can find someone recently affected, I can prove whether it is him or not.

We have something like that? When everything was happening with Elissa, no one seemed to have anything concrete. If it's touch-based, any of us who were with him in that future could be affected.

The AI only just told me about it a week or two back. She told me how his power works, and that you can see it, when you look at it in a hospital with the right equipment. I... am just hoping our hospitals have that equipment.

[She needs to get in there and ask, really.]

I'll be visiting Doctor Solus sometime in the next few days if you'd like me to ask him. What was it called?

[Haruka wrinkles her nose at the thought of Mordin Solus, but she nods. As long as she doesn't have to talk to him.]

Neauroimaging equipment. And somebody who knows how to use it.

[She had to look that up in English, since the conversation about it took place in Japanese. But she's sure that's the right translation.]

[Inara notices the grimace. Clearly Haruka has already either witnessed or been the victim of the doctor's eccentricities before.]

He's a bit odd, but not so bad if you know how to handle him. And he does excellent work.

The hospital should have neuroimaging equipment, but I don't know how easy it will be to get access. I'll ask him when I see him.

Then I obviously do not know how to handle him.

[Haruka gives a sniff, with that. But she relents and offers Inara a little smile, as they step out into the open air at last. It's hard to stay annoyed around someone that pretty, especially when one isn't even annoyed at her.]

Thank you for your help, Inara-san. We'll find him sometime.

[Inara returns the smile, but then sighs and looks out at the horizon.]

I hope so. I promised Nem that no one else would die for this.

[Audio] Friday, Week 52

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